Although he clicked his tongue and looked down on them, Muge waited until Eustar and Laila’s condition improved.

“It reminds me of the day I first took a portal.”

Eustar said. Even he, who had become quite accustomed to spatial movement and no longer changed color, looked pale today.

His stomach kept feeling heavy as if he had swallowed a stone by mistake, and his heart was beating anxiously out of rhythm.

Muge shrugged. Her attitude suggested that such a reaction was natural.

“I told you. Since you’re not magicians, it would be difficult for you to enter. I wonder if I should even praise you for ending up like this.”

“It felt like my whole body was being disassembled piece by piece.”

Laila said. She repeatedly clenched and unclenched her fist as if checking if her hand was intact, then continued.

“There were portals like this among them.”

“Tentinella’s portal was modeled after this very thing. While the portals we use allow us to move quickly through physical space, this one allows us to move through conceptual space. So the side effects are similar or even worse.”

Muge explained in an easy-to-understand way, but Eustar and Laila couldn’t hear her words as they were busy covering their mouths, clutching their stomachs, and trying to catch their breath.

After a considerable amount of time had passed, they finally came to their senses and slowly raised their heads to look at the cityscape again. Unbelievable sights unfolded before their eyes as if they were perfectly normal.

It wasn’t unreasonable that they thought ‘it looks like a giant mine’ when they first saw the city. Buildings as black as obsidian with sharp edges stood in complete disregard of physical laws.

Some buildings seemed to be stuck together or entangled, while others floated in mid-air. And some were tilted precariously as if they were about to fall over at any moment.

“How did this happen?” Laila asked, as if talking to herself, both shocked and amazed at the sight she had never seen before.

“The buildings… they’re floating in mid-air.”

Muge snorted.

“This is a city of magicians. The many things you saw in Tentinella, all those things powered by magic, are considered mere toys here.”

She turned her small body and took the lead.

“So be careful. The magic flowing everywhere sometimes tangles and collides, creating distortions. There are places that look like paths but are actually cliffs. Stay alert and follow me.”

Laila didn’t want to admit that she was afraid to take even a single step. This city was strange.

It was both amazing and eerie. The feeling that invisible eyes were watching her from everywhere made her hair stand on end.

When she turned her head, Eustar’s expression wasn’t very good either. Laila guessed that he was feeling something similar to herself.

“Eustar.”

Eustar’s face was somewhat pale as he turned his head at Laila’s cautious voice.

“It’s alright, Laila. Here, take my hand.”

“Your face…”

Eustar seemed to understand, as he brushed his cheek with his other hand and smiled slightly.

“It’s quite different from what I imagined. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt… this kind of fear.”

Laila wanted to ask when else he had felt such fear, but she refrained. Instead, she chose to take his outstretched hand and quietly follow behind Muge.

Muge walked confidently through the complex streets. She moved without hesitation, as if she had been here until yesterday.

The paths Muge chose were sometimes wide enough for two four-wheeled carriages to pass each other with room to spare, and other times so narrow that only one person could barely pass through.

These narrow paths were usually gaps between buildings, and every time her clothes or the back of her hand brushed against the pitch-black exterior walls, Laila felt an extremely eerie sensation.

“Why do the buildings here look like this?”

When Eustar asked, Muge’s steps slowed slightly. She, who had never looked back since they started, turned her head slightly and stared intently at the two.

“For defense. For defense and concealment.”

“From what? This city is home to the most powerful magicians in all of Sierou, no… in the entire continent.”

“Yes. And they use most of that powerful magic for self-preservation. The magicians who joined Jaokoonst didn’t just kill non-magicians. Their first targets were weak magicians. Weak, or kind magicians.”

A mocking smile passed over Muge’s lips. But Laila could tell that she was not in the mood to smile at all, that she was ashamed of this fact to the point of hatred.

The three walked in silence. Eustar and Laila kept their eyes on the ever-changing buildings, but had to quicken their pace to keep up with Muge’s back.

Just as they were starting to feel dizzy from the sensation of eternally circling the same place, Muge stopped in front of a building.

“This is the ‘Library’.”

It was the largest building they had seen so far. No, could it even be called a building? It had no doors or windows.

Laila was suddenly reminded of a magical tool called ‘Borrowed Night’ used by Tentinella members.

It was used to temporarily blind pursuers or enemies by spreading the most perfect darkness imaginable like a curtain. It was also what Eustar had used to escape with Laila in Rigikers.

It was pitch black as if covered with ‘Borrowed Night’, and unlike the others, it had no luster. Its shape was pentagonal, spreading heavily to the sides, reminiscent of a lazy, fat toad.

Muge approached the building without hesitation and placed her hand on the wall. As she closed her eyes and muttered something, a door appeared on the smooth exterior wall where there had been nothing before.

“They hide all sorts of things.”

When Eustar spoke, Muge chuckled.

“Of course. From entrances to ear picks. The people living in this city are now bored to death. If they don’t use magic for every little thing, their heads will all turn to stone, and they’ll have to walk around with rocks tied above their shoulders.”

After making this scathing assessment, Muge entered through the door first. As Laila and Eustar followed, the door disappeared as if it had never existed.

Although they had imagined a space similar to a dark cave, the interior was completely different from what Laila or Eustar had expected.

Lamps or candles were hung or floating here and there, and what overwhelmed their eyes the most were the bookshelves that stretched up to the impossibly high ceiling.

Messy tables and bookshelves of various sizes greeted them in complete disorder. Occasionally, they could sense someone moving between them, but they never saw a single person.

“Miss Muge!”

Just then, a tinkling voice pierced the ears of the three. Unlike Laila and Eustar who were startled, Muge sighed as if she had expected this and held out one finger as if perching a bird.

It was that strange-looking spirit with a bright blue body. Flying from who knows where, flapping its wings individually, it perched on Muge’s finger and rubbed its face against her forehead and nose in a way that was both cute and strange.

“Eek! A witch!”

As the spirit shrieked upon seeing Laila, Muge’s punishment followed immediately. Flicking the smooth, bright blue forehead, Muge said,

“This is the prince of this country and his companion. Don’t address them carelessly.”

“But witches are ominous. They capture demons. They open doors and welcome demons and kiss their feet. And… eek.”

As Muge firmly grasped the spirit’s face with one hand, its ear-piercing voice was instantly muffled. She turned briefly to Laila and Eustar, and let out an uncharacteristically short sigh.

“Spirits originally can’t lie. And they’re thoughtless.”

The implication was for them to understand. Eustar’s expression wasn’t very good. If it hadn’t been for Muge, he might have stepped in to silence that spirit himself.

“I told you to watch your mouth. You just do what I tell you to. Understand? If not, I’ll tie those wings up tight and throw you in a cage.”

The spirit whimpered pitifully.

“No! Don’t do that. I’ll be good. If you put me in a cage, I’ll cry so much that I’ll turn into a rotten apple!”

“Whether you turn into a rotten apple or a rotten blueberry, by that time it won’t be my concern anymore. How did the task I gave you go?”

As Muge released her hand, the spirit flew up, spreading its crumpled wings. It shook its mushroom-like head back and forth, and rubbed its face vigorously with its strangely tiny hands.

“I found it. I found it all! I worked hard for you, Miss. Really…”

The spirit wore an anxious expression, worried that Muge might get angry again. The expression wasn’t exactly the same as a human’s, so to Laila it looked strangely crumpled, but it was clear that it was feeling scared.

The spirit flew like an arrow between the complex bookshelves, disappearing from sight. While waiting for it to return, Eustar was looking up at the thousand-year-old looking bookshelf with disbelieving eyes.

“It’s incredible.”

Eustar said. It seemed like a trivial comment compared to the sight they were seeing, but on the other hand, it was also the most accurate description. Incredible – what other words could describe this place?

“And this isn’t even all of it.”

As he muttered again as if talking to himself, Muge said,

“There’s much more that can’t be seen. I told you, didn’t I? That everything that has ever existed as a record is gathered here. If you search well, you might even find scribbles or diaries you wrote in mismatched letters when you were three years old. This library collects all ‘recorded things’. That’s how it’s made.”

It was hard to believe even as they heard it with their own ears. The scale was difficult for human imagination to grasp, making it hard even to imagine.

Just then, the sound of busy wing flapping was heard again. The spirit, now seeming even more blue, was flying towards them carrying a scroll ten times its size and a thick book, one in each hand.

“Here it is!”

The spirit shrieked again as it placed them on the table. It kicked away all the messily piled books that someone had clearly been looking at or had seen, pushing them to the floor.

Then, other spirits quickly appeared from somewhere and picked up the fallen items. They were silent and didn’t even look at Laila or Eustar.

The spirit unrolled the long scroll. Muge precisely pointed out just one line of record among the densely written records.

“Here it is.”